Monday Churn: TBD takes another step

What’s churning:

There hasn’t been a big public launch, but TBD Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s bottom-up effort to gather broad citizen opinion about Colorado’s future, took another step Friday with a meeting of the advisors who will be involved in the effort.

Go here to see a list of members of the “framing committees,” which include separate panels for P-12 education, higher education and the state budget. There also are committees on health, transportation and workforce.

Learn more about the effort, and find out how to nominate yourself to attend one of many regional meetings, on the new TBD website.

What’s on tap:

Denver Public Schools board members meet tonight in work session, starting at 4:30 p.m. at 900 Grant St. The agenda includes an update on the LEAP teacher evaluation system and an innovation schools proposal from Creative Challenge Community. Agenda. The board’s regular meeting is Thursday.

Some interesting education bills are on this week’s legislative calendars, including skills tests for high school students and the discipline bill, but most of the good stuff doesn’t come up until later in the week. Check the full calendar here.

The Colorado Association of School Boards holds its annual winter legislative conference Thursday and Friday at the Brown Palace Hotel. Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia will speak to a Thursday luncheon meeting. Other speakers of note include former U.S. Rep. David Skaggs, speaking on the role of education in a democracy, and political consultant Rick Reiter, who will survey the upcoming election landscape.

Good reads from elsewhere:

A more important gap? – Ethnic achievement and attainment gaps are a staple of discussion and worry for education policymakers and reformers. A recent New York Times article takes a detailed look at recent research about income-based gaps, and it’s well worth reading. The piece quotes, among other, Stanford sociologist Sean Reardon, who concludes “family income appears more determinative of educational success than race.”